Etisalat Misr, Orange Egypt negotiating parent companies to finance 4G licence

Mobile operators Orange Egypt and Etisalat Misr are in talks with their parent companies to finance the 4G licence, and may resort to secure loans domestically, sources with knowledge told Amwal Al Ghad.

Orange Egypt and Etisalat Misr may resort to secure a loan from a major public bank in Egypt to finance a portion of the Egyptian 4G licence fee, the sources added on Monday.

4G is the fourth generation of mobile telecommunication technology and offers dramatically higher data transmission speeds than its predecessor, 3G, which is currently in use in Egypt.

The sale of 4G licences is part of a long-awaited plan to reform Egyptian telecoms sector. The reforms will potentially allow Egypt’s land-line monopoly, Telecom Egypt, which recently signed the licence contract, to enter the mobile phone market directly.

It will also allow mobile operators to offer fixed line services, ending Telecom Egypt’s dominance.

Egyptian telecoms regulator, NTRA asked Orange Egypt and Etisalat Misr to pay 3.54 billion pounds for a 4G licence, half of which must be paid in US dollars. The two mobile operators were also asked to pay 1.8 billion pounds for the right to offer international calls, and 100 million pounds for a licence to offer landline service.

Telecom Egypt acquired Wednesday the country’s first 4G mobile licence at a cost of 7.08 billion pounds paving the way for it to become the fourth mobile provider in Egypt.